The Pickup

Although its climax features an attempted casino heist, The Pickup consistently struggles to raise the stakes.

This boilerplate action saga recombines familiar buddy-comedy and heist thriller tropes into a lively and lighthearted tale of working-class redemption that’s more low-brow than sophisticated.

In between all the inevitable explosions and car chases, the film from director Tim Story (Barbershop) squanders a solid ensemble cast that delivers some scattered laughs yet has collectively done better work elsewhere.

The story follows dim-witted bank security guard Travis (Pete Davidson), who also works as an armored truck driver but is close to getting fired from both gigs.

For the latter, he’s paired by his hot-tempered boss (Andrew Dice Clay) with Russell (Eddie Murphy), a veteran in the business who doesn’t have much patience for the young hotshot. Russell just wants to complete the job and get home for an anniversary dinner with his wife (Eva Longoria).

Those plans are put on hold along a four-lane divided highway in the middle of New Jersey, evidently with no phone service, that is abandoned for several miles in broad daylight — making it the perfect setting for a robbery confrontation between moving vehicles.

The cool-headed mastermind is Zoe (Keke Palmer), who plans to use the incident as a springboard toward a more ambitious raid — one that will alter their dynamics by luring both men into becoming her accomplices. In Travis’ case, that generates sparks that may or may not be real.

The bickering between Travis and Russell provides a few comic highlights, and Murphy fires off a couple of amusing rants targeting his younger adversaries, including an exasperated takedown of pancake preferences.

However, as loyalties and motives shift, the thinly sketched characters are never sufficiently fleshed out to yield much of an emotional investment. The film tries to use wisecracking humor to offset their stupidity or corruption and elicit sympathy — a common tactic that’s ineffective here.

The contrived screenplay by the tandem of Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider (The Package) telegraphs its twists well in advance while inviting serious logical scrutiny.

Even as a mindless action flick, The Pickup feels like a derivative collection of narrative spare parts that doesn’t steal our hearts or strike it rich.

Rated R, 94 minutes.